Cruel To Be Kind
by PhAnToM PhIrE and TYBA
Summary: Kagome has a mysterious destiny revolving around her, guided by 2 seemingly normal people, but there is more to them than meets the eye. Her destiny is a secret to everyone, even her. After all, what she doesn't know cant hurt her...[chp.4 up][InuxKag]
1. Prologue

Yay! New story time! ^_^ I'm putting ABP on hold before it even started cuz I got a brilliant idea when I was fooling around on the teacher's computer that I TA for. I wrote it down on the Notepad and now I've got a new plan cooked up! ^_^  
  
At first, you guys might now like it, but it'll all get explained later on. So even if you don't like the way it starts, please hang around I promise it gets good! ^_~  
  
So. . . Here we go!  
  
Disclaimer: I hear that an authoress that did Harry Potter got booted off this website because she didn't do one disclaimer and someone bitched about plagiarism. Jesus Christ that's so lame. . . But I dun wanna get booted off so. . . I DON'T FRIGGIN OWN INUYASHA!! ._.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Cruel to be Kind  
Prologue  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Foot steps rang out, singing loudly in the once silent hall. The bright tile floor reflected slightly blurred images as two pairs of shoes made their way up a staircase and past a series of class room doors before stopping at one and walking in.  
  
Heads snapped up as the two people entered the room. Curiously the students stared at the two new ones before turning questioning gazes to the teacher, then back to the new students.  
  
"Oh, we have new students today. Please introduce yourselves to the class and find yourself a seat." A woman set the chalk down and clapped her hands to get the dust off before extending her hand to the two. "I'm Ms. Tuskino. Your names. . .?"  
  
"Sango Kyoko."  
  
"Miroku Yoshumi."  
  
"Welcome to our room. Sit down and start copying the lesson."  
  
"Hai, Tuskino-sensei."  
  
Sango and Miroku stepped briskly through the classroom, stopping at a row of chairs behind a black haired girl and boy and another red haired girl.  
  
"Hi," the black-haired girl said, turning and extending her hand to the two. "My name's Kagome Higurashi, and these are my friends, Kouga-" She gestured to the boy next to her, who wasn't paying attention, staring at the red-haired girl- "And Ayame." She pointed at the red haired girl, who wasn't paying attention, deeply focused on writing notes.  
  
"Hello Higurashi. Nice to meet you." Sango shook her hand, staring in her eyes. She quickly sat down and taking notes on the lesson written on the board.  
  
"Same here," Miroku said. He also shook her hand before following suit, but first tore out a sheet of notebook paper and started scribbling on it. He passed it to Sango.  
  
--Is she the one we're looking for?-  
  
~Yeah~  
  
--Damn she looks good-  
  
~Don't you dare try to pull anything on her you perv~  
  
--Now how could you think that my dear lady?-  
  
~Don't give me the lady bullshit. You know what we have to do~  
  
--Yeah I know.-  
  
~We only have one chance to make things right, Miroku. You botch this up, you know what will happen and it isn't good~  
  
--I know I know. Stop telling me that-  
  
Kagome heard the scribbling behind her and turned around and saw the two scribbling on a sheet of paper. "What are you two doing-"  
  
Before she could finish her sentence the bell rang shrilly, signaling the end of the class period.  
  
"I'm sorry if we disturbed you Higurashi," Sango said smoothly, quickly folding the paper and stuffing it in her uniform pocket. "Perhaps we'll meet up again later. Good bye."  
  
Miroku waved to her and the two hurriedly exited the room, disappearing into the sea of people.  
  
Kagome blinked and poked Kouga sharply. "Is it just me, or do those two seem sort of weird?"  
  
Kouga shrugged and stood up, gathering his supplies and his pencils. "I dunno. Let's go, we have PE."  
  
"Right. C'mon Ayame."  
  
"Just a sec guys. . ." Ayame finished scribbling ad stuck her pencil, notes, and eraser into binder and zipped it shut. "Okay. Let's go."  
  
The threesome left the room, chatting unconcernedly.  
  
--*--  
  
Kagome jogged around the PE field with the rest of her class. There was no one to talk to, since Kouga was in a differend class and Ayame was off running in front of everyone else. It'd make sense, since she and Kouga were the track stars of the school, but it still left her rather lonely.  
  
"Hello, Higurashi."  
  
Kagome turned around and saw the girl she'd met earlier, Sango. Her hair was tied up in a long pony tail now and she jogged easily to her side, smiling slightly at her.  
  
"Hi Sango. I didn't know you were in my PE class."  
  
"I just got here. . . See you later." With that, the girl ran swiftly, easily outdistancing the other students and Ayame.  
  
"She seems so cold. . ." Kagome frowned to herself, thinking about both times she'd talked to Sango and that Miroku guy. They seemed aloof and distant, like they knew something she didn't.  
  
"I'm going to have to ask," She told herself before continuing with her run across the spongy damp grass field. At the end of PE, she met up with Ayame and went to the locker rooms and then met up with Kouga. The friends chatted for a couple minutes before setting off for math, unaware of the eyes watching them.  
  
--*--  
  
A light breeze drifted through the calm September sunshine outside the school. It wound around the gray building and rustled into the emerald leaves of the trees, where two figures were completely invisible to the oblivious students crowding around the field and inside the building.  
  
"So. . .What's the first move?" Miroku asked Sango. He stood on the tree branch, his eyes following the group's every move as he spoke to her.  
  
"We need to get Higurashi to move from her friends for a moment and to the garden. Then we'll see what happens." Sango leaned against the tree trunk, sitting wit her legs dangling off the rough bark of the tree.  
  
Miroku looked down at her. "Are you positive that she should. . ."  
  
Sango looked up at him. "Yes I am. And don't even try to touch her. You heard what I said in class, we have one chance to make things right, and if we fail, then humanity might never recover."  
  
"I know. I can't help the fact I have an appreciation for the female body."  
  
Sango rolled her eyes and got to her feet, still carefully balancing on the tree branch. "Not only that, but she can't find out anything before the. . . event, or she might mess things up. And we need to get to class now."  
  
Miroku saluted and disappeared in a flash of light.  
  
Sango glanced over to the friends who were now entering the math classroom two floors up. "I hope you can stop history from repeating itself. . ." she whispered before disappearing in a flash of light also.  
  
--TBC-  
  
So Sango and Miroku aren't what they seem. . . hmmm. . . this is gonna be fun to write ^_~ Don't worry, in this fic Kouga has eyes for Ayame only, and Inuyasha and Kikyo will appear later, but not like you think they will. The purpose of the title will be explained in later chapters so hold out with me guys.  
  
Falcon: So it's short- big deal. It's a prologue, it's supposed to be short.  
  
Inuyasha: You're just too lazy to write anymore.  
  
Falcon: That isn't true! I'm gonna write more. I'm being sincere!  
  
Inuyasha: Right. Just like you were sincere about being sorry about killing me three times. . .  
  
Falcon: It was an accident!!  
  
Inuyasha: T.T bullshit.  
  
Falcon: Fine. If that's the way you all see me. . .  
  
Inuyasha: It's the only way we see you.  
  
Falcon: ARGH! Just lemme alone T.T I cooked up this brilliant scheme just to let you guys in another great fic but noooo.my efforts are wasted.  
  
Inuyasha: *rolls eyes*  
  
Anyway, the story is actually very COMPLICATED. So complicated I had to write down the plot so I didn't get confused. *Nods* It's true. It'll be really confusing but it'll become clear in the end. Another sappy ending on this one planned out. . .  
  
That's all for now ^_^  
  
Ciao  
  
Falcon 


	2. Enchanted Sleep

Hola all. Welcome to the first chapter of what will hopefully become my second hit fiction. . . (psst like that'll happen). I'm aiming for one hundred this time, dunno if I'll make it or not but. . . ah what the hell this story confuses me so much. ^_^

Anyways, at the date I was writing this, I didn't get much reviews, so I don't have too many people to thank. 

Thanks too: 

Demon Angel: Thank you! First reviewer wOOt ^_^
    
    Oneesan no Miroku Houshi: Thanks! I'll check out some of your fics when I have time ^_^

--*--

Well that's all. . .

Now what you've been waiting for!

*Trumpets blare* 

THE STORY! ^_^

*~*~*~*~*

Cruel to Be Kind

Chp. 1 

Immobilized

*~*~*~*~*

            The warm September sunshine shone down on busy street as people pushed past each other on their ways to work, school, or shopping. The sound of footsteps rang through the air, mixing in with the honking horns in the rush-hour traffic. 

            Loudest of all was a girl stumbling through the crowd, knocking people aside and yelling hurried apologies as she rushed past. 

            Guess who. 

            "Sorry I'm late!" Kagome Higurashi yelled as she skidded into her homeroom class, meeting the disapproving eyes of her teacher. 

            "School has just started Higurashi. I will make leeway for you this time, but see that you are not tardy after this." 

            "Hai. Arigato Miho-sensei." 

                        Kagome hurried to her seat, pointedly ignoring the stares on her back as she set her books on the desk besides Ayame's and slung her backpack. "Hi," she whispered to Ayame. "What did I miss?" 

            Ayame smiled at her, setting her novel she was reading down for a moment. "Nothing. I don't see why you ask, Kagome. We never do anything." 

            Kagome smiled at her comment. "Good point." 

            "Hello, Higurashi." 

            Kagome turned around and found herself staring at Sango. "Good morning. What's up?" 

            Sango shook her head. "Nothing." 

            Kagome stared at her for a second and was going to turn around, but her curiosity got the better of her. "What were you and that Miroku guy talking about yesterday in class?" 

            Sango looked briefly surprised, but her expression quickly was replaced as she spoke nonchalantly. "It's nothing. We were just talking about stuff." 

            Sango smiled as Kagome turned around. _"You can't find out yet. . ." _

--*--

            Lunch hour found Kagome and her friends sitting in the backyard under the cherry trees. Kagome sighed as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree, rubbing her forehead. "Math right after PE is a total killer."

            "Math is easy," Ayame said, munching on the slop the cafeteria called food. She frowned down at the thing that was supposed to resemble food and examined it. "what is this anyway? I can't figure it out." 

            Kouga leaned over to look at the food she was holding. "That," he said, "I believe, is supposed to be a fish stick." He poked it cautiously, watching as it instantly crumbled into dry dust. "Made out of the latest batch of Lunch Lady Mystery Meat," he added dryly as he watched Ayame make a face and get up to throw out her lunch. 

            "Ayame, you want some pocky?" Kagome offered the box from her home lunch to her friend. She gratefully took some, crunching on the sticks. 

            None of them were aware of the steady gazes on them from the music room three floors above them.

            Sango rested her chin in the palm of her hand and leaned on the window sill. Her face was clouded in worry. 

            "Stop hanging around miroku. I know you're there." 

            Miroku sighed and kicked off the ceiling. . .

            . . . gracefully falling on his ass in a tuba, knocking it over, which just happened to jar a saxophone over, causing the domino effect on all the instruments in the entire room, including the music stands and the chairs.  

            "God damnit," he muttered from underneath a pile of brass. "Fate hates me." 

            Sango chuckled and went over to help pull him out of the tuba. When she succeeded he stood up, wiped his hands on his front and looked at her. "spying again?" 

            Sango rolled her eyes. "I have to." 

            "People might start thinking you're some part of a secret organization."

            "Pish. Yeah right." 

            "So, what's the game plan?"                                       

            Sango rolled her eyes at his referral but started talking anyway. "We need to separate Kagome from her friends temporarily and get her to the place. I'm thinking of a plan." 

            Miroku sighed in exasperation. "Why not just try the trail of fireflies trick? It works all the time. Or the weird ball of light." 

            Sango glared at him. "If we do that, Kagome's friends will follow her. We can't have that, that'll mess up the order of things. And we can't screw up, no matter what. We can't fool with time either, and you know that. We need a different plan. . . A **good one." **

            Miroku glanced at her, obviously irritated. "If you're the manipulation mastermind, why am I here anyway?" 

            "Because you're so good at acting and we have to make it look convincing."

            "You're supposed to say 'Because I love your company'," he grumbled. He glanced over at her and his features softened slightly. "You have this all planned out, don't you."

            "Not exactly. I don't know how it will turn out. We can only hope we're doing it right." 

            "Okay. Fine. What do I do?"

            Sango whispered in his hear before he nodded, saluted and exited the room. She turned her gaze back out the window before hurrying out of the room too. 

--*-- 

            Kagome hummed to herself happily. It was a great day so far, and it was probably going to get better. Her mom had given her permission to go home with Ayame and go shopping before spending the night. She shoved her dark blue binder into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, quickly spot checking the desk and the area for any forgotten supplies. 

            "Kagome! KAGOME!" Kagome turned around at the sound of her name and smiled. 

            "Oh, hi Ayame. What's up?" 

            "What's up? What do you mean what's up!? How could you tell Kouga you liked him? You knew I liked Kouga for a long time!" There was angry tears running down the girl's face and she glared at Kagome. "I can't believe you Kagome!" 

            "Ayame! WAIT!" It was too late. Ayame had whirled around and ran out of the room, crying miserably. Frozen in standing there, she heard a car start up and the door slam before going off. 

            "There goes my ride. . . How did this all happen?" She rubbed her forehead, unsure of what to do or where to go. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed home. 

            The only thing that met her ears was the dial tone. "Great. Just great, now is the time mom chooses to go shopping." Snapping her cell phone shut, she tucked it in her pocket and wandered out around the school field. "I guess I'll just wait till she gets home." 

            Kagome stared off into the distance, looking at the dark forest that surrounded a overgrown field that was usually off limits to students. For some reason she felt a strange urge to go and explore that forest. "I should stay here," She said out loud to herself. "But then, mom takes a long time shopping and she thinks I'm with Ayame. I guess it wouldn't hurt." She left her backpack under a tree and set off for the field. 

            When she got there, it was a lot thicker than she'd imagine. But it was very peaceful. One could spend time in quiet solitude here, she thought. She filed it away in her mind to reserve as a place to go when she needed quiet. She kept walking in the sunshine until she came to the edge of the forest. 

            Her mind told her that it was probably dangerous in the dark leafy shade, but it was practically calling to her. She stepped over a bush and waded into the forest. 

            Kagome pushed her way through the dense underbrush. It was a lot thicker then she'd thought it would be. And she'd been walking for a while now. Suddenly, it occurred to her how stupid it was to go through a forest without a map or any sort of trail marker. Turning around, she saw she left a wide gap where she'd crashed through the growth. That was taking care of. She had to be somewhere close to the heart of the forest.

            As she turned around, she tripped on a large tree root and came face down in a bush. 

            "Oww. . . That was so stupid." She propped herself up with her elbows before sitting up completely, brushing the leaves out of her hair and off her skirt. She got to her feet.

            What met her eyes astounded her.

            There was a boy clothed in a old-style yukata leaning against the huge tree in front of her.

            On closer look, the boy was apparently pinned to the tree by an arrow. Gasping, Kagome walked forward and called out, "Hello? Are you okay?" 

            Moving forward, she was fascinated by the fact that the boy had long silvery hair to his waist and golden eyes, frozen in a state of shock. There was anger, pain, and despair written all over his face, and as her eyes traveled up to his head, she saw that he had fluffy white ears perched on top. In a small circle around the base of the tree, nothing grew there. It was just soil, like the grass had decided to suddenly stop growing. 

            Her eyes widened. This couldn't be real, could it? No one went around in old yukatas with ears glued to their head, much less be pinned to a tree by some arrow.

            For some reason unknown to her, all she wanted to do was touch the ears. As she moved forward, she suddenly smacked into some weird wall. 

            Stepping back, she saw that a silvery substance, only seconds before invisible, had formed exactly where the rim of the grass had stopped. So that was why the grass stopped growing inside there, she thought. This is so weird. I must be hallucinating. 

            She took another step closer, but the same silver shield blocked her progression forward. This time, though, golden ribbons of light twisted onto the shield, writhing and turning until they formed legible letters. 

_Open wide, doors of golden time_

_For thee has done unforgivable crime_

_ Let him sleep in land or sea_

_Let him dream an eternity_

_Through death and life. . ._

_Through beauty and strife. . ._

_That no life lives forever;_

_That dead ones rise up never;_

_That they be given a second chance_

_That winds__ of fate change their dance_

_That his savior come to his release_

_Lest this world to exist shall cease_

            Kagome blinked after reading the gloomy sounding inscription in the odd shield. The golden words faded away. She wished they would come back once more, so she could read it again. She touched the shield. 

            This time, it glowed a bright purple and disappeared. 

            She stumbled on a tree root as she fell where the shield once was and found herself leaning on the boy. She straightened, eyes narrowing at the arrow. It's not going to come out and stab you, she reasoned. It's perfectly safe. 

            She reached out to touch the ancient feathers on the tip. As soon as her fingers made contact with it, the entire arrow shuddered, as if it was alive and freezing cold, and crumbled into dust. 

            For a millisecond it felt like electricity shot through her body. 

            Then the boy started to move.

            Yelping, she backed up, tripping over a tree root in the process. She stared at the boy as he stared at her. _"Kikyô?_" he whispered. 

            "Kikyô? Who's Kikyô?" Kagome asked, forgetting about her situation for a second and staring at the boy. 

            He frowned and glared at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly a wind blew through the trees and his eyes went oddly blank, as if he were trying to remember something. He shook his head and stared at her again. 

            "If you aren't Kikyô, who are you?" 

            "Kagome," she answered. "Kagome Higurashi." 

            The boy studied her for a second. "How did I get here? And what the hell are you wearing?" 

            Her mouth dropped open at his rude comment. "What I'm wearing is the school uniform. You're very rude you know. You could at least introduce yourself. Where did you come from? Why were you stuck to a tree?" 

            He looked at her like she was insane. "My name is Inuyasha. And what the hell are you spouting?" 

            For a second time her mouth dropped open. "Y-you just. . . Well, where did you come from?" 

            He stared at her and opened his mouth but frowned and shook his head. "I don't remember. . ." he said, staring off into the forest. 

            The next thing he knew the girl was at his side rubbing his ears. 

            "Hey!" he yelped. He edged away from her and glared at her. "What the fuck are you doing?" 

            She blinked, ignoring his comment. "Are those real?" 

            He stared at her. "No shit Sherlock. They're attached to my skull. I'm a half-demon." 

            "Demons don't exist!" She said, still staring at his ears. 

            "Who says bitch?" he grumbled.

            "Why you. . ." Kagome growled and turned around with a vein pulsing on her head. "Fine, you can stick around here for all I care! Jerk. . ."  

            "Where am I anyway?" 

            She turned around to tell him to leave her alone, but the expression on his face stopped her in her tracks. His eyes were sad again, and he was looking around and sniffing the air. He had the same look on as when he'd asked about that Kikyô person, and it made her feel sad—even—guilty—when he looked like that. 

            "Don't you have anywhere to go?" She asked. 

            "I told you, I don't know where I am," He said, sounding exasperated. 

            "Don't you have parents? Or Something?" 

            "Both of my parents died when I was six." 

--*--

That's all for now. Wasn't that fun? Yeah yeah. This story is gonna go places! ^_^

Anyway, I have nothing else to report for now so yeah. . .

Except

HALLOWEEEN IS TOMORROW WOOOT!! ^____________^

Falcon 


	3. Remembering Forever

Hola all. Welcome to chapter two. . . which I hope will be significantly funnier then the last chapter; if I failed. . .

Shove it up your ass. I don't care. 

XD anyways I'm not going to bother writing review responses. I have hardly any reviews anyway so I'm just gonna skip that. No one reads these authoress' notes anyway, but I still loooove reviews anyway ^_^

ON TO THE STORY!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but I take pride the fact that you don't either.

--*--

            "Psst! _Hey!__ Kagome!" _

            "zzzz. . .Huh?" Kagome blinked sleepily, yawned and rubbed her eyes.

            "Have a nice nap, Higurashi?" 

            Kagome yelped and looked up into the face of her teacher, who was staring at her disapprovingly. To her side, she heard Ayame sigh and Kouga smack his forehead; they had both undoubtedly tried to wake her up and failed in the process.

            "Gomen, Kyoko-sensei. I didn't get very much sleep last night." It also didn't help that she had a very curious half-demon living in her house, poking all sorts of items and yelling in surprise when the reacted, causing him to almost destroy the toilet, microwave, oven, washing machine, and TV with his claws. 

            Kyoko shook her head and returned to the board, shutting off the slide projector that had generously provided the back of the room with plenty of darkness and began wiping clean the blackboard, coughing slightly on the white chalk dust that floated off its smooth black surface. 

            Kagome sighed and rubbed her face, where she now had notebook rings imprinted in her cheek. That boy was gonna pay. Oh, he was gonna pay. The bell rang and she slammed her notebook shut in irritation. She'd been woken up from a perfectly good nap, had notebook rings forced into her face, and now she'd missed a class worth's of notes. 

            "Good morning, Higurashi-san. Nice nap?" Kagome turned around at the mild-sounding voice and faced Miroku, who was gathering up his books and supplies and stuffing them messily into his backpack. 

            "Shut up," she grumbled, stuffing her pencil into its case and shoving it in with the rest of her stuff in her backpack. 

            "Just an innocent question," He said, smiling pleasantly. 

            "Anyway. . ." Kagome continued, eager to change the subject, "Where's Sango? Is she sick?" 

            "N—I mean, yes she is sick. She got a bad cold," Miroku replied hastily, attempting to cover up his mistake. He ducked under his desk to pretend to retrieve a fallen eraser and hide his face, which would have given him right away. 'Damn you Sango,' he through, lifting his head and promptly banging it on the underside of the desk 'I can't deal with this. . .'

            "But it's only September, and it's still pretty warm," Kagome asked suspiciously. 

            "Eh. . ." 'God damnit she's fast. . .' he thought, thinking of ways to torture Sango when school got out. "She was working for awhile in the freezer of that supermarket," he said, smiling as innocently as he could. 

            "That supermarket?" Kagome asked, clearly still curious. 

            "Yeah. **THAT** supermarket." 

            "Oh, right, I understand," said Kagome, clearly not understanding. 

            "C'mon Kagome, hurry up," Ayame said impatiently. She grabbed her backpack and hurried out of the room with a wave of her hand. 

            Miroku slumped against the wall, sighing in relief, glad that Kagome had asked no more questions and left peacefully. Sango owned him big time. Sighing again, he looked at the clock. The bell rang. 

            "SHIT! I'm late!" 

--*-- 

            Inuyasha wandered the Higurashi shrine grounds.

            It was strange what fate planned out for people's lives; if someone had told him that he'd be pinned to a tree for 500 years, then woken up by some girl in an extremely short skirt and then go off to live with her, he'd have said they were bullshitting him. 

            Right now, if someone really had asked that, they'd be laughing their asses off in his face. 

            Inuyasha sighed and leaped into the nearest tree, a good fifteen feet from the ground.

            His life was a total mess.

            The first thing he knew was seeing a girl in an exceptionally short skirt that would not leave his mind; the next he was living in her house. He understood he was no longer in his time after three hours of panic and cussing. What was worse was he couldn't remember anything before seeing that girl, Kagome. The last thing he remembered was an arrow coming out of nowhere, but as soon as he began thinking about it his skull felt like it was going to crack in half. 

            So, having no place to go, he went with the girl to her home.

            And her home was chock full of things that disturbed him.

            The first time he poked one of the strange items, it had made a gigantic flushing noise that hurt his ears and made it feel like he'd attempted to cut them up with a pair of dull scissors. After that, he'd been told to stay away from all items that scared him—

--which was basically everything in the house.

            It got even worse when Kagome introduced him to the rest of the household; hell, it wasn't bad; it was a nightmare.

***~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~***

Kagome crept into the house, letting the silver-haired dog demon shoot into the hall before her. She carefully closed the door behind her and shrugging her light jacket off before hanging it up on the wooden coat rack.

Inuyasha was already prowling the hallway, sniffing various items as he went, poking them with a questioning claw.

"Inuyasha, stop that!" she hissed, just as he poked a delicate crystal vase filled with beautiful silk roses over. "AHHHH!!" she screamed, diving and saving the vase just in time, before it hit the polished wooden floor. She sighed in relief, glad that the vase hadn't cracked from its fall down the chestnut table and reflecting mirror. It would be oh-so ironic if right now the half-demon knocked the reflecting mirror off the wall. 

"Kagome-chan?" Her mother walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on an old white rag dishtowel and staring at her daughter with quirked eyebrows. 

            "Mom?" Kagome mentally killed the hanyou as many times possible in her head. She didn't even want to think what it looked like to the outside eye; her laying flat on her stomach, clutching a crystal vase in outstretched hands with silk roses falling out of the neck. 

            "Oh, Kagome! Aren't you supposed to be at Ayame's?" 

            "Yeah, but. . .  you see. . . We had a fight. . ." 

            "Oh, Kagome. Are you alright? Come into the kitchen." Kagome carefully got up and set the delicate vase back on the table, rearranging the fallen roses before following her mother into the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Inuyasha drop down from the ceiling and eye the vase from the other side of the hall. 

            "Fine mom. Except. . ."

            "Except. . .?" 

            "I'd like you to meet Inuyasha."  At this she'd beckoned him forward and waited for the bombs to go off.

            "Oooh, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend Kagome!" she squealed. She almost bowled her daughter over to reach him and was instantly mystified by his ears. "Are those real?" she asked curiously, tweaking the ears.

            Inuyasha flinched at her touch and took a step back. "What the. . .?" he asked weakly. He looked at Kagome, who had expected yelling and god-knows-what, but certainly not this.

            "Ooooh, I'm going to have grandchildren with cute little dog ears!" Kagome's mother squealed giddily. Kagome could almost see the wedding bells ringing off in her head. 

            "Mom, it's not like that!" She yelled, blushing furiously.

            "Why does he have the ears, though?" Kagome's mom asked curiously.

            "Well. . .You see. . .He's a half-dog demon."

            "WHO SAID _DEMON?" _

            Kagome's grandfather popped out of nowhere, carrying his latest brand of the latest, greatest, and fakest demon-warding scrolls out of nowhere that he would exhibit to the other gentlemen with his non-existent spiritual powers. Besides him, Souta popped out. 

            "AHH! A DEMON IN OUR SHRINE!" Grandpa yelled. "_DEMON BEGONE_!" he continued, plastering a scroll on Inuyasha's forehead. 

            Inuyasha stared cross-eyed at the scroll. "You call this a scroll?" he asked curiously, peeling the thin parchment off his face and shredding with a single swipe of a single claw. "Bullshit. In my time scrolls can dissolve a demon instantly." 

            "Your time?" Souta gawked at Inuyasha, impressed by the dog demon. 

            Kagome rubbed her temples; the entire ordeal was aspirin-sized. Two tablets, she reminded herself. If not more. "Yes, Inuyasha isn't from this time," she said slowly. "I found him in an enchanted sleep he's been in for 500 years. And he doesn't remember anything either."

            "As if that's my fault bitch," he muttered under his breath. 

            "INUYASHA! Watch you language!" Kagome yelled reproachfully. "There's a little kid in the--"

            "COOL!" Souta screamed from behind the now-crying Grandpa. He lunged at Inuyasha and hugged him around the waist. "Are you going to be my big brother? Moms can Inuyasha stay with us? Huh?" 

            Kagome was speechless, but her mom certainly wasn't. "Inuyasha, don't you have a home?" She asked.

            "No," he said. "Both my parents died when I was six." 

            "Oh, you poor thing! Of course you can stay with us! You can share Kagome's room," she said, smiling in a way that Kagome didn't like one bit. 

            "Mom you. . ." she growled but never got to finish as her Grandpa ran out of the room crying hysterically and Souta grabbed Inuyasha's hand and pulled him off. 

            "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!" Kagome's mother laughed Tomoyo-style (A/N: cardcaptor sakura! wOOt) and scooted into the kitchen. She had many devious plans filling her devious mind, that she did. . . 

            Kagome growled to herself and stomped up to her room, leaving Inuyasha to suffer alone the hyperactive wrath of her younger bother. 

***~E~N~D~F~L~A~S~H~B~A~C~K~***

            Inuyasha sighed, leaning against the tree trunk. His thoughts drifted as he stared at the brightly lit sky through the green canopy above him. It was very peaceful. He would be completely happy for the first time in his life if. . .

            . . .if he hadn't got this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something important. Something that had once been an important part of his life before.

            Besides the fact he had no life.

            Sighing in annoyance, he flicked a tree branch he'd broken off the tree at a bird to make it shut up. He hit the poor bird, making it screech in startled agony and take off. 'Stupid birds. . . Too damn cheerful all the time. . .' he thought, which only served to make his mood even worse. 

            But that still didn't change the subject, nor the facts.

            He had no point of existing here; hell, he should have died long ago. He couldn't even remember where he used to be or where he used to go, or even what he used to do. There was nothing in life to just lounge around, picking off annoying feathered creatures that wouldn't shut the fuck up. It was obvious he had place in this world; that he was never destined to do anything at all. It was like there was a huge, gaping hole in the fabric of his life's timeline; the age after his mother died and he'd grown up to now was ripped out and most likely eaten by the pink flying monkeys from the fiery depths of hell.

            Even worse, it was obvious he didn't have a place in this time either.

            You would think it 500 years, the world would get better, and recognize people with half-animal like characteristics as a notch above the mindless beings that did tricks in a Zoo. But no, old habits died hard. 500 years ago, people disrespected him and his mother, calling them dirt and trash for no apparent reason. He'd been so naive then, and didn't understand why people were mean to him. But then, one day the villagers killed his mother, and the next morning a young Inuyasha woke up in a pile of ashes with blood on his claws and no memory of where his mother went or where'd the village gone.

            At least in that time, if people disrespected him, he could have killed them. In that time, he was spat on but feared at the same time. 

            It was all about THAT time.

            In THIS time, he couldn't go anywhere with the human eye. It just went to show that even with a girl that was kind enough to share her home with him could, at the same time, be a royal hell-bitch that didn't want to bother explaining why he had a certain fucking pair of white ears attached to his fucking skull, or long silver hair and golden eyes, or fangs and fucking elongated nails. 

(A/N: I wrote about Inuyasha's childhood in another one-shot, called Aftermath, about Inuyasha's reactions in the aftermath of his mother's death, but I took it off the site due to no reviews, hoping that I can edit it. It's stuck in my archives for now, but I'll eventually pull it out and repost it.) 

            Ready to scream his god damn brains out, Inuyasha leaped to his feet and swiped his claws into the nearest object they could come into contact with. . .

            Just then, Fate woke up at her desk and realized she wasn't making Inuyasha's life a total hell bitch. So she got back to work. 

            So, Inuyasha sliced through the nearest tree branch he could reach. . . 

            . . .Which happened to be the tree branch he was standing on.

            Cussing to make a sailor blush, Inuyasha picked himself up from the tangle of tree branches that had saved him from what would have been one nasty smack down. 

            "Does Fate have nothing better to do then make me life a fucking pain in the ass?" he grumbled as he scaled the tree once more and leaped off deep into the forest.

            It would have been so, so ironic if he found out he hit the nail on the head. 

--*--

            Sango sipped her soda thoughtfully, tapping away on her laptop quickly. Words sped across the formerly blank white document, looking like a rapidly growing black worm wiggling across the page. 

            With a sigh, she saved the document and shut her laptop down, snapping down the top and inserting it into her black bag. She looked around the café, slapped down her bill on the iron table and hurried out of their. She rushed down a alley, and as soon as she was out of sight disappeared in a flash of light. 

            She reappeared at the Higurashi shrine. Pulling out a pair of dark glasses, she set them on her face to help conceal her identity. She walked across the courtyard, stepping through a couple yards of forest growth before reaching the goshinboku, the god tree, where Kagome had found Inuyasha. Kagome didn't know that it was the same God Tree; she must have had a really bad sense of direction to not notice that the school was on the other side of the shrine; or that the field and forest she'd gone through was the exact same on next to her shrine. 

            Sango knelt next to the ancient tree's roots, a sad smile taking place over her features. She placed her hands together in prayer to the old tree, closing her eyes and bowing her head. _Please protect them, my Mistress, protect them so that this world will live to see the next future. Give him the ability to protect her; give the other two the ability to praise their Mistress and help her when the time is right_. A wind whistled through the trees, rustling their emerald beauty as if in affirmative to her prayer.

            "Who are you?"

            The rough voice startled her out her prayer, and she quickly slipped her glasses back on before turning to see the intruder. Inuyasha stood behind her in a defensive stance, a low growl rumbling from his throat. 

            "I'm sorry," she said smoothly, her voice gliding over the silence of the deep forest. "I was visiting here." She didn't understand how she hadn't foreseen him coming. "I will leave now," she said, smiling pleasantly. 

            "Oh no you. . . don't. . .?" Inuyasha had lunged forward, claws now stuck into the bark of the old tree, the sharp dagger-like nails digging into the heartwood. The weird bitch was gone; all that was left was her scent wafting around the goshinboku and a trail through the underbrush.  

--*--*--*TBC*--*--*--

Horror of horrors, more mysterious-ness. When will it ever end? 

Dunno, even though I'm writing this fic.

I don't have anything else to say, accept this might have been the most in-depth chapter of a new story I've ever written; considering it's the second chapter of the second Inuyasha fic I've written.

I'm gonna go eat some of my Halloween candy.

Can anyone say Jackpot?

Falcon 


	4. Flashes of the Forbidden

Aloha all. Welcome back to meh new ficcy that confuses even me ^_^. The last chapter was fairly easy to understand, ne? I dunno why I suddenly started writing more and more for each chapter, the chapters look short, which isn't true, because it was 3100 words long. And chapter one was 3160 words. More words then the last two chapters of Demon Within o.O

Anyway, moving on. . .

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is ©Rumiko Takahashi. Evil pink flying monkeys from the fiery depths of hell are ©Falcon. Dunno who has the better thing. 

*~*~*~*~*

Cruel to be Kind

Chp. 3

*~*~*~*~*

            Sango breathed harder then she normally would have when sprinting. She skidded to a stop and glanced to either side of the street before dashing across the pavement to her apartment. In a whirl she could hardly see she ran up the stairs and busted through the door, tripping on her pet cat, which earned a loud yowl, and slammed face down into an armchair.

            Thanking her lucky stars that she'd landed somewhere soft, she slid her black leather shoulder bag onto the floor besides her and slumped against the chair. 

            God knows what would have happened had she not gotten away fast enough or that Inuyasha had found her. 

            Meowing reproachfully, her pet cat Kirara strolled into the room, glaring at her through clear red eyes. The creamy-colored cat did no appreciated nearly being stepped on and was rightfully indignant. 

            "I'm sorry Kirara," she apologized to the ruffled cat, who reluctantly allowed her to pick her up. "I was in a rush," she explained, smoothing the fur on her head. The cat stared at her for a moment with her wide eyes before meowing forgiveness and hopping off her lap in search of better amusement. 

            "Very smooth, my dear, very smooth."

            Sango whipped around, eyes narrowing as she glared at Miroku's smirking face. "Shut the hell up," she ordered huffily.  

            Miroku smirked annoyingly, having much fun watching Sango's dignity slowly slip away. "Whoever would have though the high and mighty Sango would manage to trip on her own pet cat," he continued sarcastically, flopping onto another armchair sideways, staring at her upside down from over the arm rest. 

            "Shut up," she grumbled, her face flushing unpleasantly. "Everyone makes mistakes." 

            Miroku snickered but soon became sober. "Did you visit her?"

            Sango looked out the glass windows as a jet of water hit them, the sunlight reflecting off the diamond-like drops of water and making myriads of rainbows. 

"Yes," she answered quietly. "I think she got the message." 

Miroku frowned, not liking the state of distress she was currently in. "I'm sure she's with us all the time," he claimed, hugging her tightly. 

"I hope so."

And of course, Miroku, known for his excellent habit of ruining what could be na important moment, did so by placing his hand on Sango's ass. 

A fuming Sango stomped off to go pour out kitty chow for her impatient pet, leaving a very badly bruised Miroku to attempt to tell the difference between his arm and the table leg by himself. 

--*--

            Inuyasha leaped through the trees, growling angrily. He hadn't been able to follow the scent of that wench; his claws had been rammed so deeply into the heartwood of the old tree it'd taken him more then a few minutes to pull them out.

            By then, her scent had faded by a lot, and as soon as he got past the Shrine house he lost her scent. It mixed in with the whirl of all the everyday people walking through the streets and it would have been impossible to find her. 

            Growling, Inuyasha leaped out of the forest, landing gracefully on the tree outside Kagome's room's window. Shoving the glass aside with such force it was lucky it didn't break, he leaped into her room, landing softly before straightening up.

            There was no one in the house.

            The older woman, Ms. Higurashi, had gone shopping for some insignificant little item that would accent her bathroom decorations that nobody bothered looking at, and the grandpa, or Higurashi Senior as he called him, had left the night before crying vainly for more scrolls and sutras.

             The younger kid, Souta, was at school like his sister. He still wondered how he managed to survive the night before with his presence. True, brutally murdering little people trapped in a glass box was surprisingly fun, but he didn't feel up to that torture right now.

             Inuyasha flopped on Kagome's bed, his mind drifting back to that odd girl that had been praying near the old tree. He felt like he knew her, but as soon as he started attempting to remember her face, voice, or any memories at all that contained a single shred of data that resembled her, lightning bolts shot through his skull and made him to cease to think.

            He didn't understand why when he tried to think of anything from his past his head started hurting. Physical pain didn't really affect him that much; it was more mental pain then anything else. He could clearly remember his childhood, but the day after his mother died he could remember nothing. 

            Another flash of searing pain crossed his skull and Inuyasha rolled over in agony. His mind kept drifting back to the past, and it was getting annoying as well as painful. He closed his eyes, determined to think of anything but that and soon was swallowed by the world of dreams. 

--*--

            Kagome ran up the stairs to her room. So far it'd been a great day; early in the morning she had managed to corner Ayame and convince her that she hadn't really said anything to Kouga remotely resembling a confession of undying love, and so the two became friends ago.

            Flinging the door open, she could have whooped in joy right there and then. She threw her backpack haphazardly, willingly ignoring the loud crunch that came from the corner she'd thrown it at. 

            It felt good to celebrate; as well as making amends with Ayame she managed to scrape her very first A on a math test, as well as get 95% on a essay that had been extremely difficult to write for her. 

            She laughed out loud on flung herself on hr bed.

            She didn't notice the sleeping half-demon on her bed. 

            With a startled yelp she tried to get off of him, but in his sleep he wrapped his arms around her and rolled over, clutching her to his chest.

            Kagome blushed furiously and once again attempted to escape, only to get enclosed in his embrace more tightly. Seeing her attempts were fruitless, she did the next best thing she could think of. 

            "INUYASHA WAKE UP!!!!!!!" 

            The startled hanyou yelled and shot straight up, glancing side to side, expecting an enemy, not expecting a crimson girl in his lap. Yelping, he pushed her away rudely, blushing madly also. "W-what the hell are you doing, bitch?!" he yelled, vainly trying to keep control over the color of his face and failing miserably. 

            "You're the one that grabbed me!" Kagome shouted back, still blushing like a sunburned tomato, heart hammering insanely. The evanescence of her good spirits was replaced by intense embarrassment and little anger. 

            Inuyasha growled lightly, finally managing to cool his face down and settled back against the wall next to her bed. "Whatever," he grumbled. "Bitch. . ." 

            "What?!" Kagome was about to turn around and scream in his ear again, but he'd already fallen asleep, sitting crossed-leg with his odd katana leaning against his shoulder, his back resting on her wall. His face cleared and he slept peacefully, but his ears still twitched and it was obvious he could wake up at any moment.

            If she had been an evil bitch, she'd yell as loud as she fucking could in his ear, but refrained from doing so. She remembered reading somewhere that it was animal instinct to sleep against a wall; it was crucial in nature to never leave your guard open or you could possibly die. 

            It was glaringly obvious that Inuyasha didn't trust anyone at all, by the way he busted out the house the second he was allowed to and the way he slept, but she thought he could at least trust her. 

            Kagome sighed, tweaked his wonderfully fuzzy ears and walked out of the door to clatter down the stairs, yell at Souta to clear out and take a hopefully peaceful nap on the couch. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

READ THIS!!!:  I am going through and re-editing these chapters so if the order is messed up. . . DEAL WITH IT!


	5. Even More to Ask

I KNOW I KNOW!! It's been a while since I've updated this story, but now I have INSPIRATION! I'm estimating that this thing will last maybe 8-10 chapters total, so let's get going! ^^

Also—when I run out of ideas for this story, I'll just crank out some random one-shots so. . . expect those often ^^;;;;; 

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA YOU NUMBSKULLS!! -_-

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cruel to be Kind

Chp. 4

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Inuyasha dropped through the tree branches of the God tree, coming to rest on the raised, bumpy roots of the ancient tree. He lifted his head in the air and sniffed thoughtfully.

            He could still not pick up the scent of that girl.

            Growling angrily, the half-demon sprung back into the leafy foliage and into a tree by the side. There was a very small chance that they might come back. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime, he told himself.

            By the way, he was still wondering why he was taking the pains to guard the shrine when he could be somewhere in the house, attempting to figure out how the strange device that made little people do stupid things in a box worked.

            When he had woken up this morning in Kagome's room, being in that enclosed space for so long had bothered him. A lot.

            So the hanyou had leaped from the window into the forest, where he remembered what had happened with the odd girl before.

            He knew it was really probably none of his business, but it prickled at him for some odd reason. His instincts told him to guard his new territory, and guard he would. 

            Inuyasha sighed and settled down in the tree, eyes and ears alert for the slightness signal of an intruder, although his mind had drifted off elsewhere. _Why can't I remember? _ he thought to himself. _I just can't remember what happened. . . What happened after my mother died? How did I suddenly get here. . .? _

            He tried as hard as he could to remember the hole in his life, an empty void longing to be filled, with knowledge and memories and info. He screwed up his face and tried as hard as he could to remember.

            Instantly, the searing pain crossed his skull, and he howled in pain. For a few seconds, he couldn't think, and his mind was numb. Again, he was blocked off from what he wanted the most, only this time, he had managed to get a tiny flash before he had stopped.

            Red, white, and black. . . A human figure. . . a glowing pink spot. . .

            That was all he knew now.

            It hurt too much to try thinking about it again. Maybe, if he tried again tomorrow, he could recover more of what'd he lost.

            Still dissatisfied, the half-breed settled against the rough wood, still watching, ever alert. 

--*--

            In her classroom, Sango suddenly flinched and twitched. 

            "Miroku," she hissed under her breathe, without removing her gaze from the whiteboard, "please remove your hand from my ass before I remove it for you."

            Hastily, the young man complied, fearing Sango's almighty wrath.

            The young girl spared a second to glare at him before she twitched again. 

            "Are you okay?" he asked, staring at her concernedly. Sango was usually so calm and collected, the last time he saw her fidget was when her younger brother died.

            The two watched as the teacher busted another guy for chucking paper airplanes made of love-notes at Kagome, who was seething and obviously was enjoying the teacher yelling at him.

            "About time that nitwit got it comin' to him," Kouga muttered under his breathe, with Ayame nodding mutely in agreement, as the two watched Kagome in fear as she grinned like an evil maniac and stroked her knife.

            Home Economics is, most often, not a very good place to chuck notes proclaiming your undying love at a girl who hated you.

            Sango twitched once more as the guy walked out to the hall, followed by the teacher's book, which hit him quite soundly in the head.

            Turning just barely to Miroku, she whispered tiredly, "He's tried again. He just won't give up."

            Miroku stared at her. "Which one?"

            "Both." Sango sighed and slumped down in her seat. "That gets very tiring you know," she complained. Resting one of her arms on her desk, she dropped her pencil and leaned forward, holding her forehead with her other hand.

            A second later. . .

            "PERVEEEEEEEEEEEEERT!!!!" Sango screamed as she knocked the poor boy black n' blue. "That was low, even for you!!" she snarled angrily, kicking Miroku in the side.

            "I like to challenge my records, thank you very much," he wheezed.

            In three seconds, he joined the other boy outside, who was still yelling love confessions through the wall.

--*--

            As soon as the bell rang out for the end of school, and the mad stampede of glorious freedom had subsided, Sango yanked Miroku from his place on the wall and dragged him behind her as she stomped off and out of the school.

            "Ow—Sango—OucH!—hey could you—ACK!!*whump*--let go—*bam*F***--me?!"

            With a slightly satisfied smirk Sango released her hold on the boy, who promptly picked himself of the ground and rubbed his beaten skull. "Where are we going anyway?" he asked irritatbly.

            "To pay our respects."

            "To wh--. . . oh." Miroku sighed and glanced around. "No one's here—can't we go faster?"

            "No you numbskull!" Sango snapped, rolling her eyes. "OF COURSE!! NOW LET'S GOD DAMN GO!!" 

            Miroku stood with wide, tramatized eyes as Sango stomped a few feet off and disappeared, a black-flame aura visible to everyone but here surrounding her and burning the grass quite well. 

            Wincing, the boy made a mental note to try harder not to get on her bad side, and promptly disappeared.

--*--

            Kagome wandered out of the house and around her shrine yard. Her mother told her to find Inuyasha and call him in for dinner, but she had no clue where on earth he'd go during the day.

            She decided to go explore the forest for any trace of the silver-haired hot-headed half-demon. She'd wanted to explore the forest again for awhile, and now she had a legitimate cause. 

            Smiling happily, the girl scrambled over a bush and between and couple trees, heading right behind the Goshinboku, the God tree. 

--*-- 

            Inuyasha had smelt Kagome in the yard for a while now, but he didn't budge. 

            He didn't feel like moving, still pondering over the tiny glimpse of what could be his past that he had recovered earlier that morning.

            His ears twitched and he tensed on the branch, as he smelled another two scents in the area. A girl, and a boy. He immediately let out a low, rumbling growl as he recognized one of the scents to be the strange girl that had intruded into forest around the shrine.

            Tensing against the tree, the crouched low and then launched himself through the air into another tree, doing so swiftly and softly as the two figures entered the area. 

            "No one's here?" the male asked the girl softly. 

            "Coast clear," she whispered back. They both dashed forward to the ancient tree's rising roots, kneeling at the base of the tree. Looking to either side, they hesitated, then folded their hands in prayer. 

            To whom, he wondered.

            At that moment, and loud crack was heard as Kagome stumbled into the area. The first thing she saw was Sango and Miroku, who, still kneeling were now staring at her with large, widened eyes and pale faces.

            "Sango. . . Miroku. . .?" Kagome asked incredously. Pushing aside a shrub, she stepped into the area completely, the leaves cracking under her feet echoing in the now silent area. She brushed a couple of emerald leaves out of her hair and continued. "What on earth are you doing here. . .?"

            Suddenly, Inuyasha leaped down from his perch up yonder. "You better damn well explain," he growled. "What do you want here? Again?!" he snarled at Sango, who twitched then hastily got to her feet.

            "Inuyasha!" Kagome cried. Sango had seen his white dog ears, which she was staring at right now, before her gaze averted to his claws and then away. Sweet Jesus, there was going to be some explaining to do.

            "Um. . ." Miroku got to his feet too and stood next to Sango, backs facing the goshinboku. "Who are you?" he asked nervously, laughing weakly when Inuyasha glared venomously at him.

            "It doesn't matter who I am," he answered. "It does matter what the hell YOU are doing here!"

            Sango was still gaping at the claws and fangs, before she turned wordlessly at at Kagome. "I think we need to talk," she finally said.

--*--

            "Okay. . . so. . . who goes first?" Kagome asked when they had all settled down in Kagome's living room. Thankfully, her mother was out shopping, Souta was over at a friend's house, and Grandpa was off in the shrine shop luring unsuspecting travelers into his lair and forcing them to buy useless artifacts.

            "Um. . . You?" Miroku tried hopefully. Inuyasha growled at him, the sun glinting off his silver hair and very sharp fangs, making the poor guy sweat and look away quickly.

            "Okay. . . Well. . . I found Inuyasha stuck to a tree," Kagome started.

            Sango nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "that's obviously not all of it," she said.

            "Yeah well . .. anyway, when I first tried to touch the arrow sticking him to the tree, there was this weird barrier, or something around him. And there was this rhyme thing on it too. . ." She closed her eyes and tried to remember what it had said, but she couldn't. "Anyway," she continued. "I touched the barrier again, only the second time it glowed and then disappeared. The same thing happened with the arrow, and Inuyasha woke up and thought I was someone named 'Kikyô' or something like that."

            Sango twitched when she said the name 'Kikyô, but she ignored it and continued. "So, Inuyasha is a half dog-demon. And he can't remember his past."

            Inuyasha, who was laying across the back of a couch, opened one eye lazily and looked at them. ~They're taking it well. . .~ His mind joked feebly as he closed his eye and resumed his light nap.

            "So that's it," she finished.

            Miroku blinked. "It just occurred to me, dear lady, where is the rest of your charming family?"

            "Mom's out shopping, Grandpa's in the Shrine store, and Souta is out playing with Kohaku."

            Sango flinched jerkily this time, attracting everyone's attention. "D-did you s-say K-kohaku?" she asked unsteadily. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and she had to gnaw on her lip to keep it from quivering.

            "Yeah. Why?" Kagome asked curiously.

            Shaking her head, she turned away from everyone, even Miroku, and shook her head to clear her mind. 

            So. . . long. . .

            Since. . . he. . . had died. . .

            She couldn't let them see her weakness.

            They could not know anything. 

            Sango turned back to them, smiling with fake cheerfulness as she stood up, yanking Miroku up with her, who let out a startled squawk. "Thanks for sharing with us," she grinned with false enthusiasm. "We promise not to tell anyone," she added as Kagome opened her mouth. "C'mon Miroku, let's go!" 

            With that, she dashed out of the house, dragging Miroku after her again, who let out volleys of 'ows' and other un-mentionable words. ^_~ 

            Kagome and Inuyasha stood there as a piece of paper blew by. "that was. . . interesting. . ." Kagome blinked.

            "Yeah. . ." he replied, staring also.

--*-- 

            Sango continued running down the street after she released her death grip on Miroku. The young man panted and hurried to keep up with the heavily sprinting girl, as her eyes unfocused temporarily. She made a sudden sharp turn, cutting Miroku off and almost tripping him as she did so.

            "Hey!" he yelled as he regained his balance. "What's up!?"

            Sango didn't stop running as she ran with all her might, long legs stretching wide, one foot in front of another. "No time!" she yelled back. "Hurry up!!"

            Miroku wheezed and began running again, in desperate attempts to catch up with her, but still failed miserably. He was only too glad as she finally skidded to a halt in front of a house and stared with blank eyes up to its gaping windows.

            "What are we. . ."

            "Kohaku! Over here!" Souta's voice issued out as his head poked out of a tree house, situated in a firm oak tree in the front yard, they could see over the iron railing. 

            "I'm coming!!. . . Just gimme a sec!!" Another boy's voice yelled from the ground. 

            In a few moments, the rope ladder to the tree house swung and then went taut as another little boy scrambled open. He had blackish-brown hair, long and thin body structure and the same dark-colored eyes as Sango. 

            As she saw the boy, her heart fell with a  sickening thump. It was true; he WAS here. She couldn't help but let a few hot tears escape.

            Miroku was still jogging in the distance, so she turned back to watching the two boys. She pretended to be interesting in the floral display that grew in front of the small house, but watched out of the corner of her eye as the two stared at her and started whispering together.  

            "Hey, Kohaku, do you know that girl?"

            "I don't think so."

            "I think I saw her with my sister before. . . She looks sorta like you!" Souta laughed.

            "I dunno. . . she seems kinda familiar though. . ."

            Sango jerked her head up and started hurrying away, wiping her eyes dry of tears and sniffing loudly. 

            It hurt. . . so much. . .

            Didn't. . . know her. . .

            By the time Miroku had caught up with her, she managed to dry her face and pushed her sorrowful thoughts to the back of her mind. 

            She didn't need to worry about this right now.

            She had a much more important mission to complete. 

*~*~*~*~*TBC*~*~*~*~*

Hokay. I'm done for now! No more work! W00t! ^^

Dunno if anyone else wants to bother reading this, but the English version of Rurouni Kenshin manga stocked in the Borders in LA!! And I must say, for a translated version of manga, it has pretty good art. . . blooood. . . *_* muwhahahahaaahaahah. . .

Anyway, I don't know how soon I'll manage to pull out the next chapter. The lil folder I keep with all my files stuffed in it are archived with all sorts of one-shot shit, and I have a crap load of fluffy Miroku/Sango & Inuyasha/Kagome stuff planned out. What can I say, I live for the romance =D

Right now, my internet connection is being shitty, so when I respond to the reviews, I'm gonna do all 7 of them, regardless if I wrote them before. -_- Who gives a fuck anyway? You get thanked twice. That's next chapter. 7 WHOLE REVIEWS!! W00t!! *sarcasm* plus whatever review I may get next chapter. 

SO~~~~

Thanks all, review and hopefully I'll update soon ^^

~~PhantomPhire 


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